Family Cultivation: Rise of the Wilderness

Chapter 418 Real Estate Planning
There are only three paths before everyone: either fight to the death and manipulate the Puyin Mountain Guild to oppose the Li family; or collectively withdraw from the guild to threaten the Li family; or accept their fate and let the Li family get involved in the exchange.

First of all, this first approach is definitely not feasible.

The current president of the Puyinshan Association is Zhang Zhi'ang, who was promoted by Li Xiangming. Now he doesn't even show his face, which shows his attitude.

The second option is worth trying.

Since Li Xiangming was willing to put in the effort to establish the Puyinshan Guild Hall, he naturally did not want it to disband easily.

But currently, who benefits the most from the association?
It wasn't the Li family, but the itinerant merchants themselves.

If Li Xiangming were to get truly angry and allow them to leave the guild hall, it would be a case of killing eight hundred enemies while losing eight thousand of your own.

Who would want to be the fool?

If the first two options don't work, then we have no choice but to compromise.

The exchange was originally established jointly by the Li family and the Puyinshan Guild Hall. In fact, when it was first established, it was stipulated that the exchange would be under the jurisdiction of the Li family.

However, the Li family's management was too crude, so they chose to recruit outsiders to handle the transactions with the demon-hunting cultivators.

The shrewd Chairman Zhao immediately discovered this loophole, so he used his wealth to corrupt the exchange's staff and even gradually replaced the people inside with the confidants of several prominent itinerant merchants, all without the Li family's knowledge.

This cannot be blamed on the Li family, because there are hardly any members of the Li family in Puyin Mountain.

Li Xiangfeng, who is responsible for dealing with them, holds a position in the Li family's Puyin Mountain Guild Hall, and is also the leader of the Divine Wind Demon Hunting Team, spends his days with demons.

This new manager, who succeeded Li Xiangming, only appeared at the club at the end of each month. His purpose was not to participate in the club's decision-making, but to demand the seat fees of new members and a cut from the exchange's orders.

In other words, as long as they were given a little bluff, the Li family would be completely unaware of the Puyinshan Guild Hall.

Zhao Jindou happens to be an expert in this field.

Therefore, long ago, the guild bypassed the Li family and set its own prices for the monster materials produced in Puyin Mountain.

Because of their flexible pricing, everyone made a fortune, especially the top merchants, such as Zhang Zhi'ang and Feng Niangzi, who all became very successful.

Now that Li Xiangming has taken over the exchange under the guise of closing the valley for renovation, who can accept that?

Since Madam Feng was the most vehemently opposed, they naturally had to cooperate, all in order to gain more benefits.

But who exactly is Li Xiangming?

This Li family scion's cunning and methods are far beyond what ordinary people can match.

Zhang Mazi was once so glorious, but after only a few months, he met an unknown end and never showed his face again in Puyin Mountain.

Everyone present knew perfectly well that the Puyinshan Guild Hall was able to bring down Zhang Mazi not because Zhao Jindou was in a state of panic at the time, but because of the efforts of Li Xiangming behind the scenes.

Now that Li Xiangming wants to take back the Li family's share, who dares to stop him?

Didn't you see that Zhang Zhiang and Old Wu haven't come over?
After offering themselves a few words of comfort, the traveling merchants withdrew.

A short while later, Li Xiangfeng walked in from outside, looking guilty: "Master, it was my fault."

"It doesn't matter!"

Li Xiangming waved his hand, telling him not to take it to heart.

Li Xiangfeng did not manage the Puyinshan Guild Hall well, but this cannot be solely blamed on him, because the Puyinshan Guild Hall was not within the scope of the animal trapping station's responsibilities.

In order to collect a large fee for the membership at the guild hall, Li Xiangming did not tell his family all the information about the guild hall.

The Li family was unaware of the guild's potential and current development, and they were even unaware that the organization was founded by Li Xiangming. Naturally, they did not pay much attention to it.

In the eyes of the Li family, the greatest value of Puyin Mountain lies in the demon-hunting cultivators and demon beasts.

Therefore, Li Xiangfeng's primary responsibility as the person in charge is to ensure that the Li family maintains a certain number of demon-hunting cultivators in Puyin Mountain and provides a continuous supply of demon beasts for the beast breeding center. If Li Xiangfeng can accomplish these two things while also controlling the Puyin Mountain Guild Hall and the Demon-Hunting Guild, then he is undoubtedly a genius, and even Li Xiangming would have to admire him.

Li Xiangming had long anticipated the ulterior motives of Zhao Jindou and many other itinerant merchants.

After all, when he first established the guild hall, the grand promise he made to everyone was to use the guild hall to unite the traveling merchants around him, share weal and woe, advance and retreat together, and manipulate the prices of goods in Puyin Mountain to make huge profits.

Because the guild hall was too small at the time, it was very difficult to control prices. It was not until Zhang Mazi was driven away that the guild hall entered a period of rapid development.

Even so, it was only in the last two years that the Puyinshan Guild Hall began to show signs of having absolute power.

Rather than saying that the traveling merchants were manipulating the prices of monster materials to make a profit, bypassing the Li family, it would be more accurate to say that Li Xiangming was playing the long game. He has now cultivated a massive commercial platform without expending the slightest effort.

Isn't this a good thing?

From beginning to end, Li Xiangming always hoped that the traveling merchants could make money.

Only when they become wealthy can they fill the ever-growing Puyinshan market.

But Li Xiangming wouldn't let these itinerant merchants run rampant forever. His initial purpose in establishing the guild hall was to expand the market in Puyin Mountain and then enjoy the fruits of their labor, rather than just watching helplessly.

Now that the Puyinshan Guild Hall has gained considerable influence, it's time for him to reap the rewards.

"How did the demon-hunting cultivators react after the valley was opened?"

Li Xiangming then asked.

"The response has been very positive, especially at Parkson Plaza and Chunyilou!"

Li Xiangfeng was quite excited and kept introducing the two new industries in Monkey Valley.

Li Xiangming nodded slightly. Baishengfang was a gambling den, while Chunyilou was a place for romance and pleasure.

Despite being called "Immortal Masters," cultivators are far from being true immortals who are free from worldly desires.

Even a Foundation Establishment cultivator like Li Xiangming couldn't control his desires, let alone those Qi Refining cultivators with short-term cultivation.
Especially in a repressive environment like Puyin Mountain, the pursuit of pleasure by demon-hunting cultivators is extremely intense.

The establishment of Baishengfang and Chunyilou in the valley is a perfect example of hitting the soft spot of demon-hunting cultivators.

But in fact, Li Xiangming is not the only one with such vision.

After returning to Puyin Mountain, Li Xiangming learned about the situation over the past few years and discovered that many chambers of commerce wanted to establish themselves in Monkey Valley and had even set up businesses such as gambling dens and brothels, but in the end, they were all squeezed out by the Puyin Mountain Guild Hall.

Zhao Jindou, taking advantage of the guild's influence, used various methods to suppress dissidents. In order to protect his own position, he even forbade larger chambers of commerce from joining the Puyin Mountain Guild.

As a result, the guild hall is still run by a group of itinerant merchants.

Li Xiangming was naturally dissatisfied with this. He never intended for the guild hall to become a privileged institution for certain itinerant merchants, which was an important reason for his determination to rectify the guild hall.

After thinking for a moment, Li Xiangming asked, "Is anyone willing to buy the cave dwelling in the valley?"

"this."

Li Xiangfeng found it difficult to speak, but under Li Xiangming's gaze, he still honestly said, "So far, no! However, some of the demon-hunting cultivators and their families who moved out of the Taibai Tavern are willing to rent cave dwellings."

Upon hearing this, Li Xiangming frowned.

In addition to new industries, Monkey Valley has also created a cave dwelling area for cultivators to live in.

As everyone knows, there are many demon-hunting cultivators in Puyin Mountain, but they all crowd around the vicinity of Monkey Valley.

This has led to the conflict between a large population and limited land, resulting in constant disputes.

Monkey Valley is the territory of the Li family, but the Li family is not limited to Monkey Valley, because the surrounding area is all unclaimed land. In that case, why doesn't Li Xiangming develop Monkey Valley and the surrounding real estate to provide sufficient safety for demon hunters?

(End of this chapter)